Friday, December 28, 1945

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

Page Five

•

Personal Problems

By W. A. GOLDBERG, Ph.D., Director, Counselling Service

Do Your Children Boss You?

"I can't do a thing with my child. He does the opposite of what
I tell him. He argues with me. Ile stamps his feet and screams.
Nothing I Eay has any effect. He is only ten but his mind seems
stronger than mine. Some place in his training I may have
made a mistake. I wish it were possible to start all over again.
How can I get him back on the right track?"—Mrs. R.J.L.

You happen to be one of the few fortunate mothers. You admit
you are not perfect. You realize something is wrong and that you may
have had a part in it. That is half the battle.
Take a child by the hand and lead him. You can do this because
you are a parent and a human being. You too require emotional satis-
factions from your child. Many parents act with emotion rather than
logic toward a child. Somewhere in the past you established your
child's behavior pattern without realizing its possible effect.
Your child was your boss for its first few years. He was wet or
hungry. He yelled. He didn't care if you were tired or ready to go to
Aunt Minnie's for dinner or if it was two in the
morning. But you soon trained him. Perhaps you
made your first slip when he refused to eat his
oatmeal. You coaxed, you sang, you let him do
what he wanted at the moment to keep him quiet.
Your cue, if the baby was healthy, was to for-
get the oatmeal. For the next meal you probably
forgot to dress it up with raisins or cinnamon so
that it looked different. You repeated the un-
pleasantness of oatmeal by giving it to him in the
same way. He yelled. You coaxed. He yelled until
you let him have his way.
Let's take another matter. You tell your child
to do something. He says he won't do it. You yell
at each other. He now has the upper hand because
you have lost control. He set the pattern for you
Dr. Goldberg
to follow. You became emotional as do many good
parents. Theoretically you were the leader and he the follower.

■ ••

Children Mirror Their Parents
A child lea rns manners and food habits by imitating his parents.
If you don't say "Please," neither will your child. If Dad makes a
face when you have bean soup, Junior will learn food dislikes. Chil-
dren quickly see the difference between what you say and what you
do and they act accordingly.
Haven't you seen the prompt response when your child believes you
are in earnest? Notice his refusal when your tone is not convincing.
Children copy the ease or tension of their family. If you are mild-
mannered, easy-going, unruffled, your child absorbs the same attitudes.
Your son will learn that he is expected to wash well for dinner. If
he doesn't, you make no fuss but repeat your request once more. You
say no more but you serve him no dinner until he does comply.
You cannot start from the beginning. Your child's mind is not
a blackboard, to be washed clean of mistakes. A quiet, calm insistence
is all that you need. You may have to think quickly. Once you learn
to propose different methods, the results will surprise you.
The first time Sonny uses a vulgar word, you pay no attention.
You can also laugh a child out of a tantrum. A warm bath often
helps. Some actions of children are merely for effect. If you do not
react, they get no pleasure and so they forget the act. But first and
always, you must keep a cool head and be ready with alternatives.
Act indifferently even when you are ready to blow up. It's a pattern
which you will find very useful.

Copyrighted, 1915. by W. A. Goldberg, Ph.D.—All rights reserved.
Editor's Note: Your questions In personal problems will be answered by mall as
far as possible or In those columns. Send your question and a stamped, self-
addtessed envelope to Dr. W. A. Goldberg, 1314 Eaton Tower, Detroit 26, Michi-
gan or to the Detroit Jewish Chronicle, 525 Woodward Avenue, Detroit 21l, Mich.

Book Review

By LEON SAUNDERS

"Thousand Year Pinsk"

..4.
.!

174

A dozen Jewish organizations all over the country have pooled their
resources and efforts and brought out a beautiful octavo volume
entitled: "Thousand Year Pinsk." It seems that this metropolis of
Poliesie is well represented in this country, and the landsman manage
to give the lie to the appelation they enjoyed throughout Lithuania and
Poland, as "Pinsker Pigs." The publication is a splendid effort by
which the whole history, life and culture of the city of Pinsk is
depicted in several articles and departments. The hook is a collective
work of many men under the editorship of Dr. B. Hoffman (Zivien)
and includes subjects like the history of Pinsk from the time of the
Lithuanian grand duke, Vitovt, till the present time, its institution.t,
social movements, personalities and the alumni in this country.
It would have been desirable that a similar book be published
about the city of Vilno, which would show more of the real culture
of the Jewisn life in Lithuania.
According to an inscription on a tombstone in a cemetery in
Pinsk, Jews lived there as far back as the 14th century.
Perusing the book, one finds that the life of every Jewish city in
Lithuania appears in these pages. The history of Lithuania, Poland
and Russia mirrors itself through the life of the Jews in these coun-
tries. The rata of whole populations depended upon a good or bad
prince, citywide fires, attacks by Cossacks, wars, persecutions and
plagues.
Along with this outward life, an inner life goes on with its vicissi-
tudes and struggles, parties, sects and religious strife pierced through
with fanaticism. The strife between Chassidism and Misnagdism led
to denunciations before the barbaric governments and despotic tsars.
And one reads almost with amazement that the "crazy" tsar, Paul,
instead of sending all the warring factions to Siberia, ordered them
to settle their quarrels between themselves. A suburb of Pinsk was
Carlin where the famous schism of Celiner Carliner brand of Chassi-
dism originated.
The medieval period of Judaism having passed, a new generation
comes forth, young men, who have thrown off the yoke of the elders,
of the Talmudists. The year of 1905, with its convulsions brings forth
the "Bund" a social democratic organization which played an import-
ant part in the life of White Russia and Poland. The numerous poli-
tical parties and factions, with their right and left wings, indicate the
political ripeness of the inhabitants.
No wonder Pinsk is proud of itself. It prides itself for being the
birth place of Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the leader of Zionism; Yanovsky,
the gentle anarchist who lived and worked in New York; Masliansky.
the Zionist orator; Rabbi Raines and even the famous, or rather
notorious, concocter of Jewish dime novels, Shomer.
The book is illustrated with pictures and portraits of historical
value and of me ny of the Pinsker alumni in the United States.
The editors and publishers of this book have done a splendid job
and have mad a worth while contribution to the history of Jewish
lore and culture.

So They Tell Me—

MAN OF TIHE WEIDE

By LOUIS W. ENFIELD

Almost everybody thinks that
there is no imprisonment for debt
in Michigan. And as is very often
the case, almost everybody is
wrong. In certain kinds of cases,
when a judgment has been secured
in a civil court, the defendant, if
he refuses to pay, may be thrown
in jail by the plaintiff.
The plaintiff has to pay a sum
amounting to about seventeen dol-
lars a week for the defendant's
room and board at the jail. If he
fails to pay any given week, the
defendant goes free and owes noth-
ing any more. The maximum time
in any event is only a few months
and when this time has elapsed,
the debt is discharged and the
defendant goes free.
A defendant in such a case has
still another privilege. He can get
what is called a jail limits bond.
Somebody, generally a bonding
company, puts up a bond that he
will not leave the county and the
limits of his jail are thereby ex-
tended to the limits of the county.
Within this county, he may come
and go as he pleases. But if he
ever sets foot out of th3 county
and the plaintiff can get a sheriff
to discover him out of it, the bond
is forfeit.
There was a certain defendant,
an employee of an ambulance
company, who rejoiced in the
name of Yachlepflaster. One morn-
ing, he found himself at one end
of a stretcher, carrying a patient
to his ambulance for transporta-
tion to a hospital.
Yachlepflaster had been out cele-
brating the night before and he
had what is known as a "head"
on. It gave him considerable an-
noyance to hear the patient groan-
ing as he was carried so carefully
to the ambulance. An eye so prac-
ticed in sicknesses as this one
could readily see that a great deal
of the pain was put on and the
patient was making a bid for sym-
pathy to which he really was not
entitled.
The entire combination of cir-
cumstances was such that Yachle-
pflaster made a sudden decision.
With a disdainfully graceful ges-
ture, he dropped his end of the
stretcher and walked slowly away.
The patient had not expected
this and his language was some-
thing frightful to hear. He swore
so fluently and so sulphurously
that Yachlepflaster paused to list-
en and admire. Among other
things, the patient vowed he would
have the law on the stretcher car-
rier and would have him locked in
the clink for so long that they
could throw away the key.
And so he did. At the trial, it
was nip and tuck for a while. On
the evidence presented, the jury
could have brought in a verdict
either way. They finally found for
the plaintiff in the sum of eighteen
hundred dollars and found further-
more that there had been malice
involved in the accident.
Any attempt to collect such a
sum from Yachlepflaster would
have been vain indeed. That
worthy was never possessed of
more than enough to get drunk on
three days in a row and he had
nothing to offer but a good dispo-
sition and his hide. The patient
was determined to have the latter.
So a capias was taken out and
the stretcher bearer found him-
self in durance vile. Some of his
cronies raised the necessary money
to pay a bonding company and
the prisoner was now out on a
jail limits bond, forbidden to step
out of the county on pain of hay-
ing the company forfeit the entire

SUM.

There was quite a scene at the
jail when Yachlepflaster was
turned loose. The plaintiff was
there demanding that the sheriff
retain custody. The sheriff kept
explaining that he had no say in
the matter and could only capture
the defendant if he stepped out
of the county.
Whereupon, the plaintiff fixed
his gaze on Yachlepflaster and
eyed him with a baleful glare.
"I'll have a man on your tail by
day and by night," he ground out
from between clenched teeth. "Just
let me see you step out of this
county. Just one step."
Yachlepflaster was moved to de-
fiance. One of his pals had brought
him a little snort to celebrate his
freedom and anyway, he felt he
had been handed a raw deal at
the trial.
"I'll leave the county whenever
I please." he retorted. "And what's
more, I'll call you up when I do
and tell you so. Just you wait
and see."

Continued Next Week

Scholarly, dignified, witty, Dr. Otto A. Hirsch, superintendent of
The Jewish Home For The Aged, is saluted by THE CHRONICLE as
The Man of The Week.
Dr. Hirsch was born in the little town of Szamos-Ujvar in that
section of Hungary known as Transylvania. He was the son of an
orthodox rabbi and was the seventh of eight children.
"My life as a child was very pleasant," said he. "We lived reli-
giously, observing the most minute detail of orthodoxy without any
coercion whatsoever."
At the age of four, Hirsch started his Hebrew education. This kept
up steadily for six years. It was not until he was ten years old that
he first began to study his ABC's in Hungarian, but once started, prog-
ress was so rapid that he completed "gymnasium," equivalent to our
high school and junior college, at the age of sixteen.
By this time, he was a respected Talmudist even in a community
that was known for its scholarliness. His customary procedure was
to get up at four o'clock every morning except on Sabbaths and holi-
days. From Lair to seven, he studied the Talmud. At seven, he was
oft to school. Back in the afternoon, it was Talmud again until he
was ready for bed. With this type of background it is not difficult to
understand the deep respect Dr. Hirsch has for the scholarship of
Rabbi Thumin and Rabbi Fischer of this city, men whose clarity in
the Talmud is almost without peer in this country.

In Hungarian Army
At sixteen, Dr. Hirsch was drafted in the Hungarian army where
he served one year. From there, he went to a rabbinical institute in
Berlin, the only place in the world
where it was necessary to have a
degree of Doctor of Philosophy be-
fore being able to get a rabbinical
degree.
Hirsch studied here for two
and a half years. Then he returned
to Hungary where he switched to
the study of medicine. He spent
two and a half years at hard
study at this profession at the
same time tutoring students to
support himself.
One day one of the kindly doc-
tors in the university called him
into his study,
"Undress," he ordered per-
emptorily. Then, looking at the
boy's gaunt figure, he said, "why
you're half starved."
"I can't spend too much time
eating," was the reply. "I have to
study and I have to teach to earn
a living."
"We don't need any doctors
in the cemetery," was the answer.
"You had better quit medicine or
you will be dead before you gradu-
DR. OTTO A. HIRSCH
ate."
=Mar
So Hirsch quit medicine. But, he did take a degree of Doctor of
Philosophy at the University of Kolozsvar. He was awarded the title
of Professor of Latin, German, Hungarian and French languages.

Stopped By Anti-Semite
At that time, the minister of education in Hungary was Count
Apponyi, a notorious anti-Semite. Though all of his diplomas were
summa cum laude, with the highest honors, still Hirsch could not get
a job. So back to the university he went, this time in the school of law.
The four year course took him two and a half years to complete.
He took his next degree as a Doctor of Jurisprudence and six months
liter, became a Doctor of Political Economics.
For nine years he practiced law in Hungary. These were nine
pleasant years. He was prosperous. He loved his work. His health was
good and the future looked bright. He became a professor at the law
seminar of the university. Here he taught Criminal Law, Philosophy of
Law, and international law.
Then came the first world war. Rumania occupied Transylvania in
which Hirsch lived. He was deprived of all his money and of the
right to practice in his profession. He therefore left the country and
came to Detroit.

Payroll Clerk
For a while, he worked in a factory here. Then he went to West
Virginia where he became a payroll clerk in a mine. The miners lived
in unbelievable squalor, especially a little colony of five hundred and
eighty-three Armenians.
Meeting 'A little Armenian girl, Hirsch tried to determine her
nationality. He called on his long list of the languages with which he
was familiar r.nd spoke to her in each one. He spoke in English,
Yiddish, German, French, Hebrew, Rumanian, Spanish, Italian and
finally Armenian. She replied in Armenian and took him home to the
but where her family lived.
Hirsch reorganized the entire life of the Armenian community. He
taught them to read and write. Since they had no doctor, he called
on the memory of his medical school days and prescribed for their
needs, even practicing minor surgery.
One Christmas eve, the superintendent of the mine invited him
to dinner and then to midnight mass,
"I cannot go to midnight mass," was the calm reply. "I am a Jew."
He did not go to the mass and on January 15, he was fired.
Back in Detroit, Hirsch took a position in the Detroit Public
Library. It was his job to select or reject books in Latin, Yiddish,
French, German, Italian and Spanish. The job lasted six weeks and
again he was free.
Next, he started a cheese factory with a friend in Chicago. The
venture was not a success so Hirsch fell back on his experience as a
social worker and became a director of Bnai Brith Boys in Chicago.
This kept up for four years after which he became social director
of the South Side Hebrew Congregation. From there he came to the
Jewish Children's Home in Detroilln 1937, he accepted the post of
superintendent of the Jewish Home For The Aged.

Institution Very Successful
Under his leadership, the institution has become one of the finest
of its kind in the country. The old folks are happy and contented and
life there proceeds very smoothly.
"We encourage marriages among the old folks," said Dr. Hirsch.
"It makes them happy. Here, however, the women all propose to
the men." He told of one case when an old timer, aged ninety-eight, re-
ceived a proposal of marriage from an elderly widow. He came to the
office and asked the superintendent a few questions about h. r. Tha
questions were answered but the man still hesitated.
"How old is she?" he finally burst out.
"Seventy-six," was the reply.
"Then she's too old for me," he decided and went back to refuse
the proposal.
Dr. Hirsch is an ardent Mizrachist and is a member of many
communal organizations. His very charming wife, he says, is his great-
est inspiration.
"I love my work," he ended simply. "I am so emotionally involved

that it has become an essential part of my life."

